Preston Home Care branch makes national award final

Our Preston Home Care branch has been shortlisted for a prestigious national award.

Branch manager Margaret Macdonald and her team have made the final of the Homecare Provider category of the Laing Buisson Awards – the Oscars of the care world.

The team’s place in the final recognises the transformation of the branch from one providing just a few hundred hours of care a week to our biggest branch and one of the largest regional services in the UK.

The Preston branch now has around 30 office staff and 400 support staff and provides 11,000 hours of care a week.

It has developed a unique relationship with Lancashire County Council and runs the authority’s crisis and rehabilitation and reablement services in a way which directly helped Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to halve social care delays and dramatically reduce the average wait for a care package.

Karl Howard-Jones, Head of Home Care, said: “The contribution of Margaret and her team is second to none. She has taken what was a small service and grown it into what is now by far our biggest branch.

“The team is an incredibly valuable asset, not only to Housing & Care 21 but to communities across Lancashire.”

Margaret Macdonald said: “It’s about the individual. I think the reason we’ve been able to create a Home Care offer which is so intuitive and works so effectively is down to the fact we have always kept that in mind. Knowing we are making a difference to so many people’s lives is what drives us.”

The final of the Laing Buisson Awards takes place on Wednesday 11 November at the Lancaster Hotel in London.